Exploring Public History with Nick Sacco

It was great having Nick on the show…I love speaking to historians who regularly engage with the public. To me, public history best represents the intersection of academic history and the informed public. Nick is a NPS ranger at the Ulysses S. Grant Historic Site in St. Louis, and I think he has a ton of important insights about public history that we should all embrace. My own work as a scholar and an educator often takes me to battlefields and other historic sites where I have in-depth conversations with my students about historical interpretation, the role of the park service, and even our responsibilities as informed citizens to look beyond the surface of a historically significant place. Nick and I take on many of these subject including:

• The distinction between public and academic history

• How one might frame public history for the broader public

• U. S. Grant in history and memory…both as general and president

• The challenge of “political” interpretations and the need to provide an inclusive history at historic sites

• Social media (one of my favorite topics)…the good, the bad, and the ugly

Naturally, since Nick works at the Grant site, we also discussed Grant scholarship including Joan Waugh’s U.S. Grant: American Hero, American Myth and Brooks Simpson’s U. S. Grant: Triumph over Adversity, 1822-1865 and The Reconstruction Presidents . Nick also had some comments regarding Grant in popular history…by looking at Ron Chernow’s Grant.

Have a listen…I would love to hear your comments below!

Be sure to check out Nick’s website, Exploring the Past…and follow him on the Twitters!

And please, be sure and subscribe to The Rogue Historian Podcast on Apple Podcasts or your favorite app so you never ever ever ever miss a show. That would be dumb.

With compliments,

Keith